


Alive with the Beating of Young Hearts

by Sachiela



Series: Sachie's Fluff Bingo Fills [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff, Fluff Bingo entry, Kids, M/M, soft, watching them be good with kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-25
Updated: 2018-11-25
Packaged: 2019-08-29 03:02:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16735851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sachiela/pseuds/Sachiela
Summary: Lance brings Keith to a family bonfire/cookout on the beach where he hopes to make Keith fall for him even more by showing him how great he is with kids. He never expected to have the tables completely turned on him.





	Alive with the Beating of Young Hearts

**Author's Note:**

  * For [83protons](https://archiveofourown.org/users/83protons/gifts).



> Fill for the "watching them be good with kids" spot on my Fluff Bingo card, requested by my good buddy Mars. The power was out at our house tonight, so I finally found the motivation to finish this. I hope you enjoy!
> 
> Melanie is made up by me as Veronica's oldest daughter from a personal headcanon. 
> 
> Title is from _Here I Am_ by Brian Adams

Lance had thought it would be him making Keith swoon by walking him be good with kids. And maybe he had hoped for it a little even, because the kisses Keith gave him after Lance made him hot under the collar were the best. Yet he never expected it to happen the other way around. He’d never even known that Keith was good with kids, let alone great, but he found out soon enough.  
  
The McClain family was having a beach party, a last big celebration before Lance and Keith went back into space to do their jobs protecting the universe once more. Lance’s papi and uncles had set up a massive grill to cook most of dinner on while his mama and some of his aunts and cousins worked to get everything else ready. Veronica and Marco were even working together to set up a fire pit for once the sun went down with the promise of s’mores to end the evening.  
  
While he could help with the preparations, Lance felt he would almost get in the way if he tried. They were all working together like a well-oiled machine and he did not want to be the wrench in the works.  
  
“C’mon,” he said to Keith, tugging lightly on his hand. “Let’s go keep the little ones busy and out of everyone else’s hair, sound good? You'll probably get to see them all dogpile me.”  
  
Keith smiled at him and followed Lance’s lead. “I’m not going to need to rescue you or anything, am I?”  
  
“What, you don’t think I can save myself?”  
  
“From all of them? I don’t think you could do it alone.” Keith stepped closer and squeezed Lance’s hand. “But that’s why I have your back.”  
  
Lance turned quickly in the sand to face his boyfriend and pull him in for a quick kiss. “Aw, that’s so sweet, babe.”

As soon as the kids realize that Lance was coming over to play with them, there was a collective scream that honestly worried Keith for a moment. He pulled away from the stampede enough to watch them all tackle Lance, who went down laughing, and remained unscathed. It helped when the kids didn’t know what to make of Keith yet. He was fairly sure his scar intimidated more than a few of them.

There were several exclamations in Spanish, one or two of which earned reprimands from the parents off to the side, but otherwise it was all joyful. Lance appreciated that they had only tackled them like this on the sand. That would have seriously _hurt_ anywhere else.

Keith sat off to the side of the pile, smiling at the others' antics. It really was too cute to see how they all vie for Lance's attention.

He looked around the beach and was surprised to notice one of the youngest ones, little Melanie if he remembered correctly, walking towards him instead of the chaos. Stopping a step or two in front of him, she looked at him curiously. Not sure what she might want, Keith opened his arms to her. "Want a hug?" he offered.

Melanie smiled at him and stepped forward, stumbling on the sand and falling into his arms. He laughed softly and swept her up, swinging her lightly into the air. He smiled wider at the sound of her giggles, settling her comfortably in his lap.

Barely over the noise of his cousins and niblings' shouts, Lance heard his sister's oldest's laughter and sat up sharply, scattering family members all around him. What he saw all but melted his heart. Melanie was babbling about something, probably some elaborate story with how her arms moved in wide gestures and the grin on her face. Keith was following along with nods and over-exaggerated expressions of surprise as she continued. At one point, he asked a question and Melanie paused before continuing even more excited than before.

Lance only got to watch for a few moments, but he knew with absolute certainty that Keith was it for him. There couldn't be anyone else for him. He was going to marry that man someday, hopefully sooner rather than later.

Lost in his thoughts as he was, he wasn't really surprised that his nephew Charles used his distraction to body slam him back into the sand. That little ten-year-old should try out for football. _Dios_.

\--

A few hours later, once all the food has been eaten or packed up as needed, everyone sat around the fire, on chairs or blankets or just straight on the sand. Most of the younger kids had quieted down or passed out completely, though some of those still awake were seeing how many marshmallows they could set on fire before they got scolded. All in all, the perfect end to the day.

Lance settled next to Keith on one of the blankets, reaching over to pet through Melanie’s hair a few times as she snuggled deeper into Keith’s hold, completely dead to the world. “I see you two are getting along just fine. Almost makes me jealous.”  
  
Keith tucked a strand of hair out of her face before it had the chance to wake her. “She’s super cute and has quite the imagination. Reminds me of her uncle.”

“Means she got all the best genes the McClains could offer,” Lance replied, pulling a laugh from the other.

“Is this what it’s always like?” Keith asked softly, looking over at Lance with the softest smile he had ever seen.

“Family bonfires? Yeah, usually.”

Keith shook his head. “Not exactly what I was asking. I meant more just...being around a big family.”

Wrapping an arm around Keith’s waist, Lance gave him a quick kiss on his temple. “Yeah, it’s always a bit loud and a bit crazy, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

Keith leaned a little against Lance and moved his gaze to the fire. “With just me and my dad, it was usually quieter. And at the group home, I tried to keep more to myself, because it was too much most days. No one was ever really happy there. And then after, with Shiro and Adam, and then Voltron, I started to get a feel for it, and...I liked it, feeling like I really belonged somewhere. Even if...it felt like everything kept trying to pull it away from me. I’m glad I made it here.”

“I’m really glad, too, sweetheart,” Lance replied, moving down to kiss his cheek instead. “But I hope you’re prepared. You’re not getting rid of any of us easily.”

“I’m counting on it,” Keith quipped back, giving his boyfriend a small smirk, laughing when the other immediately leaned in to kiss it off of him.

Conversation went smoothly for a bit, Lance telling a few stories about his childhood that Keith hadn’t heard yet while returning the gesture with a few hesitant ones of his own. Lance learned that Keith was very glad his father had taught him the basics of cooking, which he’d then built on in the group home, because Shiro couldn’t be trusted to make toast on a good day.

By the time the fire started to die down, Keith had drooped completely against Lance’s shoulder, all but asleep himself. People were getting up and moving inside or to their respective vehicles to get home and Lance knew they needed to do the same. Veronica came over and tried to get Melanie, biting back a laugh when Keith automatically tightened his arms around her, protecting her even in sleep.

“Babe, it’s okay, Melanie needs to go to her own bed now,” Lance whispered, smiling when Keith huffed and finally let go enough for Veronica to get her daughter. “Us, too,” he continued. He stood slowly, bringing up Keith as he went. “C’mon, samurai, let’s get to bed.”

It took a little longer than Lance would have liked, but they finally made it to his childhood bedroom. Lance barely had time to pull back the covers before Keith was flopping onto the bed, hugging one of the pillows to his chest. He stripped off his shirt and slipped under the covers as well and it was only a moment before his sleepy, adorable boyfriend turned to him and wrapped around him instead.

As Lance drifted off, his last thought was whether Keith would ever consider them raising a kid or two of their own together. He was certain they would be amazing.


End file.
